Football Plays and Formations

Football Plays, Formations, and Adjustments

(Getting more Power in the Power Running Play)

I Wing Toss Power Play

To expand on our theme of Football Formations and Essential Youth Football Plays, we thought we should cover a couple of formation adjustments that might make sense for your situation. Like many of you we participate in a league where the end man on the line of scrimmage must be under a certain weight limit (ball carrier weight). Even though we typically get a double team at the point of attack on our Power Running Play, there are times when our play side Tackle and Tight End struggle to get a sufficient push against a dominant Defensive Tackle. Because of this we have the Wing ON, Flanker ON, and Tackle OVER formation adjustments in our playbook.

Note: We will be using Coach Bruce Eien’s I Wing Toss play as our example Power Running Play.

Wing ON Adjustment

Football Plays – Wing ON

Because the I Wing offense utilizes a wing, we have the option of using the “Wing ON” adjustment. Of the adjustments we will cover this is one of the simplest as it usually doesn’t require any assignment changes. The Wing or Z player simply moves up to the line of scrimmage covering the X player. Now the Z is the end man and while the X is no longer an eligible receiver he can now be over the ball carrier weight. This allows you to put a much larger player in what would normally be the Tight End position. Consequently you should get a better double team on the Defensive Tackle. The only downside to this adjustment is that you can’t call any pass plays that sends the X out in a pass route.

Football Plays – I Wing Toss Wing ON

Flanker ON Adjustment

Football Plays – Flanker ON

The “Flanker ON” adjustment moves a flanker onto the line of scrimmage to cover the X or Tight End. Now the Z or Flanker is the end man and while the X is no longer an eligible receiver he can now be over the ball carrier weight. This allows you to put a much larger player in what would normally be the Tight End position. Consequently you should get a better double team on the Defensive Tackle. Much like the “Wing ON” adjustment there is the down side that you can’t call any pass plays that sends the X out in a pass route.

Football Plays – I Wing Toss Flanker ON

Tackle OVER Adjustment

Football Plays – Tackle OVER

The “Tackle OVER” splits out the X. We then move the back side Tackle over to the play side to the position vacated by the X. We are now in an unbalanced formation, but it is has been our experience that few defenses recognize this as unbalanced. We now have both of our Tackles to double team the Defensive Tackle. Unlike the “Wing ON” or “Flanker ON” adjustments we don’t lose any eligible receivers, however we do create a shorter edge on the back side.